The week in review

Worst Santa behavior: Robbing a Chester drugstore of OxyContin on December 14.

Best price on a letter by Jefferson or any other president, for that matter: $1.4 million for a three-page letter to a French scientist outlining the purpose of the Lewis and Clark expedition paid by an anonymous buyer at Sotheby's December 13, Carlos Santos reports in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Best showing by Mountaineers: West Virginia Univesity fans snap up over 30,000 tickets to the sold-out Continental Tire Bowl, contrasted with Cavaliers fans' paltry 20,000 or so.

Best advice to make chitterlings-cooking easier: Buy them pre-cooked or pre-boil raw ones. Suggestion courtesy of the Virginia Department of Health.

Worst claim-staking: Sir Paul McCartney dares tamper with the iconographic Lennon-McCartney signature on a new concert album, arguing that since he wrote "Yesterday," his name should come first.

Best 99th anniversary: December 17, the date that proved man could fly when Orville and Wilbur Wright went airborne over the dunes of Kitty Hawk.

Best behind-the-scenes glimpse of how early admission works at UVA: The December 16 Washington Post details how snappy essays and a light senior course load weigh in getting accepted, deferred, or rejected.

Best marching to a different drummer: Perhaps due to the upteenth downtown gallery opening, UVA's art museum bags First Fridays in favor of the Fourth Friday of the month.

Best medical news: Diuretics are the most effective and cheapest way to treat high blood pressure.

Best purchase for trauma victims: UVA gets a snazzy new Italian-made Pegasus chopper and calls it the "fastest med-evac helicopter in Virginia."

Worst ending to a police chase: A truck smashes into a Blue Ridge Commons apartment December 16 when the driver flees the vehicle without setting the parking brake and it rolls down a hill into the residence, David Dadurka reports in the Daily Progress. No one is injured in the crash.

Best drunk stats: Virginia's alcohol-related traffic fatalities are eighth lowest in the country, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study.

Best Christmas present for Bosss fans: Bruce Springsteen schedules a March 6 concert at the Richmond Coliseum.

Worst Christmas present for the U.S. Forest Service: A coalition of environmental groups, including the Charlottesville-based Southern Environmental Law Center, files suit to prevent logging in the Jefferson National Forest.

Third best showing in the Style Invitational: Charlottesvillian Brian Broadus with his December 15 suggestion in the famous Washington Post's contest, for thwarting missionaries at the door: "Sorry, I'm just the burglar. Could you give me a hand with the VCR here?"

Best holiday report in the Progress: The annual listing of notable lighted houses.

Best letter to the Progress: One writer debates another about whether the Sabbath is the seventh day or the first, but they agree that stores open on Sunday may have caused the drought.

Best drought news: Thanks to conservation and a very rainy fall, the year ends with reservoirs at 95 percent capacity.